Minister Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam (NOI) leader who has long expressed anti-Semitic and racist rhetoric, is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the NOI’s annual Saviours’ Day convention in Detroit on February 25, 2007.

Farrakhan, who ceded his leadership role with the group after nearly 30 years due to illness in September, has been recuperating at his home in Michigan.

The NOI has been preparing for the weekend-long convention by visiting various sites in the Detroit area and by meeting with local government representatives. The NOI’s National Council of Labor (NCL), a group of NOI officials that apparently has run the organization during Farrakhan’s absence, visited the Detroit Marriott, the Detroit Muslim Center, the Cobo Hall Convention Center and Ford Field, where Farrakhan will deliver the keynote address titled, “One Nation Under God: The Confusion, The Guidance, The Warning.”

Ishmael Muhammad, the NOI’s National Assistant Minister and most likely successor to Farrakhan, and local NOI Minister Dawud Muhammad, greeted the NCL along with Lucius Vassar, chief administrative officer for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Vassar “underscored how important the mayor and city valued hosting the Nation of Islam for its return to its roots here during Saviours’ Day,” according to NOI newspaper Final Call.

Last month, Mayor Kilpatrick said, “I look at this [Saviours’ Day] as a homecoming…We are happy to do business both economically and spiritually with the Nation of Islam and look forward to the Nation of Islam coming home,” according to the Final Call. The Nation of Islam was founded in Detroit in the 1930’s.

There have been previous occasions when Detroit’s political leadership has recognized the NOI. For example, in August 2005, a special meeting of the Detroit City Council was called to honor Farrakhan with a special proclamation officially endorsing the Millions More Movement in Washington D.C. At that time, the Detroit City Council joined Mayor Kilpatrick and Councilmember JoAnn Watson in presenting Farrakhan with the “Spirit of Love” award. Farrakhan then was presented the Key to the City of Detroit by Mayor Kilpatrick who said he felt “spiritually filled” after hearing Farrakhan’s address to the City Council.

During the NOI’s last Saviours’ Day event at the United Center in Chicago, approximately 16,000 – 17,000 people gathered to hear Farrakhan’s keynote address, which lasted about 2 ½ hours and included a number of anti-Semitic and homophobic comments.